Homogeneity and reliability of the behaviour observation scale for psychomotor therapy for elderly people with dementia

The Behaviour observation scale for Psychomotor Therapy for elderly people with dementia (BPMT-dem) was developed to (1) evaluate the cognitive, emotional and social functioning of people with dementia in psychomotor therapy, and (2) to facilitate the interdisciplinary communication in treatment of behavioural and mood disruptions. The objective was to investigate the homogeneity and reliability of the BPMT-dem73. The Mokken scaling procedure was used on items and 10 a-priori determined subscales in a sample of 105 people with dementia or severe cognitive impairments. 68 items demonstrated sufficient scalability (item-scalability coefficient H_i ranged from .30 to .81). 6 subscales had strong, and 4 had moderate homogeneity. The 68-item version of BPMT-dem has satisfactory reliability (Rho ranged from .65 to .89 for the subscales). Researchers and psychomotor therapists are recommended to use BPMT-dem68 to gain insight into the efficacy of psychomotor therapy on the cognitive, emotional and social functioning of people with dementia.